NEW YORK (AP) — Venus Williams was given a U.S. Open singles wild card on Tuesday and the tournament is keeping one on hold — perhaps in case her sister Serena wants to join her.
Sloane Stephens, the 2017 U.S. Open champion, was one of six other women to receive a wild card, and the U.S. Tennis Association said the final one is still to be announced.
That almost certainly would go to Serena Williams, if she decides she wants to return to the tournament at 44.
Venus Williams received a wild card last year, returning to the Grand Slam event she won twice for the first time since 2023. The 46-year-old has become the oldest entrant in singles at the tournament since Renee Richards played at 47 in 1981, according to the International Tennis Federation.
She has continued to play some singles matches and this week joined Serena for their first doubles tournament together since the 2022 U.S. Open. They lost Monday at the Cincinnati Open in a match tiebreaker against Marta Kostyuk and Peyton Stearns.
The sisters planned to play at Wimbledon but had to withdraw after Serena injured her knee in her singles match. That marked her first time playing singles since the 2022 U.S. Open, and she indicated afterward that she hoped to keep competing if healthy.
Headlining the wild-card recipients on the men's side were 39-year-old Gael Monfils, a past U.S. Open semifinalist who is set to play his final Grand Slam tournament before retiring, and Australian Alexei Popyrin, who upset Novak Djokovic in 2024 on the way to the fourth round.
One spot is also being held among the eight men's wild cards. Stan Wawrinka, the 2016 champion at Flushing Meadows who at 41 is playing his final season, could be a candidate for that.
Also receiving women's wild cards were Carol Young Suh Lee, Reese Brantmeier, Thea Frodin, Leolia Jeanjean and Taylah Preston.
The other men receiving wild cards were two-time reigning NCAA singles champion Michael Zheng, Martin Damm, J.J. Wolf, Sebastian Gorzny and Jack Kennedy.
Kei Nishikori, the 2014 U.S. Open runner-up who also is retiring, was given a wild card into the men's qualifying tournament, along with Jordan Lee, Trevor Svajda, Andre Ilagan, Spencer Johnson, Michael Antonius, Andrew Johnson and Daniel Milavsky.
Women given spots in the qualifying tournament were Caroline Dolehide, Janae Preston, Katrina Scott, Ayana Akli, Annika Penickova, Julieta Pareja, Kristina Penickova and Savannah Broadus.
The main draw begins Aug. 30, with the qualifying tournaments being played earlier that week.
See AP’s full tennis coverage here
Serena Williams, left, and Venus Williams, right, both of the United States, wave to the crowd at the end of a women's doubles match against Marta Kostyuk, of Ukraine, and Peyton Stearns, also of the United States, at the Cincinnati Open tennis tournament, Monday, Aug. 17, 2026, in Mason, Ohio. (AP Photo/Kareem Elgazzar)
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Hours of fierce fighting between government troops and militias that killed dozens of combatants in Somalia’s southwestern city of Baidoa also left at least four civilians dead and 98 others wounded, a hospital official said Tuesday.
The fighting erupted early Monday when militia groups attacked government positions on the outskirts of the city, which is home to more than half a million people displaced by conflict and drought. Somali officials said at least 30 attackers were killed, but did not immediately give a toll for government troops.
Dr. Abdikafi Omar Mohamud, head of the emergencies department at Bay Regional Hospital in Baidoa, said the fighting also killed at least four civilians and injured 98, including 28 women and an elderly man hit by stray bullets.
The latest violence placed additional pressure on health services already struggling to serve residents and displacement camps in Baidoa, about 245 kilometers (150 miles) northwest of Mogadishu.
Mohamud's hospital had only 40 beds available and put up an emergency tent to accommodate the influx after the fighting erupted. Medical workers were also struggling with shortages of essential medicines, he said.
Calm returned to Baidoa on Tuesday as security forces patrolled major streets and inspected buildings and vehicles damaged in the fighting. Residents cautiously emerged from their homes, although troops maintained a heavy presence in key areas.
The violence began shortly after 5 a.m. on Monday with two explosions near a military base east of Baidoa. Heavy fighting broke out minutes later around another base in Bonkay, south of the city, before armed men entered Baidoa and exchanged fire with government troops.
Fighters loyal to former South West state President Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen displaced the new administration’s troops from parts of Baidoa for about six hours before being driven from the city, said Samira Gaid, a regional security analyst at Balqiis Insights.
In separate attacks, fighters of the al-Qaida-linked extremist group al-Shabab struck two Somali military positions on Baidoa’s outskirts, Gaid said. The timing of the assaults prompted allegations that the extremist group had coordinated with Laftagareen’s forces.
Somalia’s federal government said the attackers included Laftagareen-aligned militias and fighters from al-Shabab. The government said its forces killed nearly 30 attackers and captured several others. South West state authorities reported a higher toll, saying about 50 attackers were killed.
Neither figure could be independently verified, and authorities did not explain the discrepancy.
South West Internal Security Minister Isak Mohamed Korsaar said Tuesday that government troops recovered the bodies of al-Shabab fighters and captured others alive.
“The militias that attacked us were not alone,” Korsaar told reporters. “We have confirmed that they were accompanied by al-Shabab.”
The fighting followed months of tension over South West’s leadership and its electoral process. The federal government rejected Laftagareen’s disputed indirect re-election in March.
Federal troops took control of Baidoa on March 30, prompting Laftagareen, who had governed South West since 2018, to announce his resignation.
Gaid warned that the fighting demonstrated how political disputes can create openings for extremist groups.
“When elite disputes are settled militarily, they create the conditions that the terrorist group exploits,” she said. “It is Somali civilians who pay for it.”
Government troops patrol alongside government officials after clashes with militias that killed dozens of people, including civilians, in Baidoa, Somalia, Monday, Aug. 17, 2026. (AP Photo)
Government troops check the bodies of militia members following clashes in Baidoa, Somalia, Monday, Aug. 17, 2026. (AP Photo)
Government troops patrol alongside government officials after clashes with militias that killed dozens of people, including civilians, in Baidoa, Somalia, Monday, Aug. 17, 2026. (AP Photo)
Government troops patrol alongside government officials after clashes with militias that killed dozens of people, including civilians, in Baidoa, Somalia, Monday, Aug. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)
Government troops patrol alongside government officials after clashes with militias that killed dozens of people, including civilians, in Baidoa, Somalia, Monday, Aug. 17, 2026. (AP Photo)
